Voters across the state will likely decide whether Maricopa County residents will get the chance to extend the half-cent sales tax on transportation projects.

Gov. Katie Hobbs said last week that she supports a 2024 ballot-laden proposal to repeal a state law requiring only Maricopa County to obtain legislative approval before applying the tax update to voters.

The move was supported in a letter signed by six Valley mayors, including Gilbert’s Bridget Peterson, Chandler’s Kevin Hartock and Mesa’s John Giles.

The letter accused a “very small group of lawmakers – all Republicans associated with the so-called “freedom caucus” – of derailing voting methods, and accused an “uncompromising group of He spit out the truth about half of the special interest.” “

The governor acknowledged that he may recall Republican lawmakers to the Capitol after they vetoed a funding plan that they approved on June 13.

Ms Hobbes has criticized what was sent to her, ranging from less funding for public transportation than the Maricopa Government Association requested, to the fact that the Republican plan would require two separate votes. said it was unacceptable.

“I don’t think it serves anyone’s purpose if they’re not willing to come to the table and discuss the deal,” she said. “For that, we need some cooling.”

However, it is unlikely that time will resolve it.

Rep. David Livingston (R-Peoria), who is involved in the GOP plan, said, “The tax extension bill will be the only bill this Congress will pass.”

Other Republicans have made it clear that if Mr. Hobbs does not accept the plan, Maricopa County voters will not have the opportunity to extend the levy first approved in 1985 for another 20 years.

If so, they argued, the current tax will die out by the end of 2025. And all the money it plans to raise (an estimated $20 billion over the next 20 years) will not be recovered, nor will all the projects raised with that money. No funding takes place.

But MAG president and Avondale mayor Ken Wise said that wasn’t true. He sent a letter to the governor asking for a veto.

This leaves what Wise called the “Free Maricopa” initiative. He said the idea was to sell voters statewide that residents of the state’s largest county shouldn’t be held back by restrictions that don’t apply anywhere else.

Wise said “Maricopa County is the only county that has to go through this process” of getting voters’ blessings from state legislators to ask for tax extensions. “And we’ve seen how disastrous it can be.”

This means that by July 3, 2024, we will collect 255,949 valid signatures on a petition to bring the issue to voters in November of the same year. And, if passed, it will be up to the Maricopa County Supervisory Board to schedule a special election in early 2025 for a tax extension that will be introduced when the current levy expires at the end of the year.

Livingston doubts the business community will spend millions of dollars collecting signatures for the initiative, and perhaps $10 million or more to convince voters statewide to free Maricopa County from regulation. He said he was.

Wise said he expects he will have no trouble getting the support he needs, especially after Republicans have effectively told Maricopa County that it’s their way or the highway when it comes to transit taxes. Stated.

Hobbs said he believes voters statewide would be happy to support lifting the restrictions that Maricopa County would have to run.

“They are holding them hostage,” she said. “It’s ridiculous that Maricopa County has to go to the legislature to get permission to go vote for anything for the area.”

She added, “If Maricopa doesn’t get this, the rest of the state will be competing with Maricopa for transportation costs.”

All of this leads to the question of why Congress decided it needed to have veto power over the Maricopa plan.

“They thought a government agency like MAG might have too much power,” Livingston said.

Livingston sidestepped the allegation that MAG does not have the authority to impose levies.

MAG Managing Director Ed Zukor told Capitol Meda Services: They wanted more highways, so we increased the number of highways. “

At the same time, Zukor said MAG has cut back on the percentage it was asking for transit. The group also said it agreed to fund the light rail extension with other revenues.

Zukor also noted that MAG would also require Valley Metro to meet certain “benchmarks” based on comparable cities, such as what percentage of the operating costs of buses, trolleys and light rail are covered by fares. said they agreed.

“We have just reached the limit of having nothing more to give,” he added.

Hobbes and MAG want to extend the 0.5 cent levy for 20 years, with 40% of the revenue going to public transportation and the same amount of highways, and the rest going to local roads and highways.

In contrast, Republican lawmakers approved a vote on the 0.0495-cent levy, giving a larger percentage to highways. They also want voters to approve a separate tax of 0.07 cents on light rail construction and extensions.

House Speaker Ben Thoma said the Republican approval would give Hobbs and MAG, who are made up of locally elected representatives, the opportunity to do what they wanted: extend the sales tax until 2045.

Republican Rep. Barbara Parker said during the debate that experiences in the local community of Mesa, where the light rail now runs, suggest residents have seen enough.

“The light rail not only destroyed historic Main Street and downtown Mesa, but it destroyed the families that have been there for years and the businesses that have lasted for generations,” she said.

“We are funding the losers,” Parker said. “In our town, a moving toilet, that’s all.”

But Democrat Lorena Austin, also a Mesa Rep., painted a different picture. “If you’ve been to downtown Mesa in the past year alone, you’ll see that every retail store is really booming,” Austin said. “We can’t get companies in there fast enough, and it’s all about public transportation.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitzi Epstein of the Tempe Democratic Party told colleagues that fast-changing public transportation is not a good idea.

“If you keep thinking that every car on the road has to be one driver, you just get to the point that every point has to be paved.”

Senate Speaker Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert) said the Republican plan does not mean there will never be further light rail extensions. What that means, he said, is that not everyone who buys items subject to sales tax throughout Maricopa County will pay the cost.

“If a city wants to do light rail, do you know what it’s going to be like?” Petersen said. “They can find a way to fund it and do it.”

Bob Christie of Capitol Media Services contributed to this article.